The Amazing Turnaround
Riot·3/13/2014, 2:20:49 AM·0 votes·446 views
With his aggressive-yet-pragmatic style, Maurice “Amazing” Stückenschneider has been at the center of the Copenhagen Wolves' comeback since mid-season. If he's not grabbing kills himself, he's kicking opponents to their doom and helping the rest of his team get fed, or putting down massive damage in a teamfight. In just a few short weeks of LCS competition, Amazing has become a star player.
And it almost never happened at all.
“My parents have always had a great understanding of me,” he says. “So they saw how I struggled doing anything, and my dad has had a history of having this depressive burnout stuff as well. He just saw me, looked me in the eyes, and saw that something was really f—ing wrong. He knew that the only joy that was left for me was playing video games. That was sad, obviously, but it helped me reacquire the will to live, or the will to do something.”
Video games helped him cope, but it was his life as “Amazing” in League of Legends that started to work a change on him. The same competitive streak that had driven Maurice to burn himself out on schooling also made him into a pro-level jungler that drew the interest of Team Acer. They picked him up for their squad and sometime later, brought him with them to compete at World e-Sports Masters 2012 in China.
“The average try-hard league player — there are few LCS players who can say of themselves they've never had a phase like this,” Amazing says. “Most of them have. Most players had something in their lives that forced them into becoming those people that they are now, and trying to pursue a competitive career.”
The team had to change everything. Where before they'd been able to stay on top of Challenger without practicing too hard or preparing for specific matches, now they had to do extensive prep work for every LCS game. They started setting micro-goals for themselves in each game: steal every enemy buff after the first rotation, set a pick before level 3. They took an incremental approach to games, trying to chain small wins into a victory.
“I also have to say my comfort level on the LCS stage really rose during that time,” Amazing admits. “The LCS stage is completely different from most events. Even IEM Cologne was held in the old LCS studio. The only event that comes close was WM China.”
Once Amazing had gotten over his stage fright, and was feeling confident with his picks, he started turning things around. His KDA spiked to 23 in Week 6 as the Wolves went on a spree that brought them back into contention with teams like Gambit, ROCCAT, and SK.
Amazing has been a trump card in a lot of the Wolves' best games. Where most junglers end up playing a secondary role in fights after the initiation, and often sacrifice for their team, Amazing's style is very different.
He says, “I don't want to be the one that dives in and dies in the first second. I want to stay in and put on as much pressure as possible during those teamfights. I have a carry approach: do the most damage while surviving the longest. ...I'm just trying to focus on doing maximum damage while being safe, and still making the play.”
Amazing gives a lot of credit to his mid, cowTard, and says the two players may have the best synergy on the team. They're not just complementary on the Rift, but their temperaments make them natural allies in daily life as well.
“We clicked early. We have a similar approach. We are rather the quiet ones sometimes, standing by the side and not necessarily being a part of the action. But in-game we want to be a part of the action,” he says.
If cowTard is Amazing's favorite partner, then Gambit's Diamondprox is his arch-nemesis. Diamond's style is like Gambit in a nutshell: versatile, skilled, and completely unpredictable.
“I love playing against him because he's always putting up new challenges, there's always a surprise in some way,” Amazing explains. “But I also hate him because of that, because you never know what you have to expect. You never know what Gambit is bringing out. You never know the picks, the play style. ...Gambit changes the play style a lot from game to game. Sometimes Diamond sits back and farms until level 6, and then other times he just comes out and trashes your entire time. And you have to somehow respond to that.”
While Copenhagen Wolves are neck-and-neck with the other .500 teams in EU LCS, their sights are on the top spot. They have to be. For a competitive personality like Amazing, there is no other way.
“You can never have the approach that you want to be in the middle of the pack. That you're comfortable with it,” Amazing says. “Because if you have this comfort, you get lazy while being in the middle. Because that just puts you in the position that you'll get beaten by teams that are beneath you. We're still aiming for a top three or top two finish, because you always have to have that mindset. That you want to win each game and be the best team in LCS.”
SECOND CHANCES
Maurice Stückenschneider was a model student. With just over a year to go in his secondary education, he was practically smashing the grading system and poised for whatever kind of academic future he wanted. “In Germany, a 1.0 is the best mark average you can have. I had a 1.7. I could have had a lot of good places to study,” he says. “I got accustomed to school. It was easy for me, even though I studied a lot for it. Then I just woke up and I couldn't do it anymore. And I didn't want to.” Even though he was trying counseling and medication, nothing was really working and he could not go back to his old life. Fortunately, no one tried to make him.
“My parents have always had a great understanding of me,” he says. “So they saw how I struggled doing anything, and my dad has had a history of having this depressive burnout stuff as well. He just saw me, looked me in the eyes, and saw that something was really f—ing wrong. He knew that the only joy that was left for me was playing video games. That was sad, obviously, but it helped me reacquire the will to live, or the will to do something.”
Video games helped him cope, but it was his life as “Amazing” in League of Legends that started to work a change on him. The same competitive streak that had driven Maurice to burn himself out on schooling also made him into a pro-level jungler that drew the interest of Team Acer. They picked him up for their squad and sometime later, brought him with them to compete at World e-Sports Masters 2012 in China.
A NEW HOME
It was a life-changing trip for Amazing. "The only thing that worked out for me was being forced to fly to China and support my team,” he says, “...That was the first time I had responsibility for someone else but me. And I knew I had to do it. Obviously, it's so much money going to waste if I missed that flight. That was the first time I got out because of League.” Being forced to get out and be with people and peers brought Amazing out of the depressive malaise that had trapped him for so long. He admits that he still has issues sometimes. Bad losses can hit hard, and twice Amazing has been on teams that failed to qualify for the LCS. But LoL has also given Amazing a new and different life than the one he had before. He also says that professional League is full of players with a personal understanding what Amazing went through.
“The average try-hard league player — there are few LCS players who can say of themselves they've never had a phase like this,” Amazing says. “Most of them have. Most players had something in their lives that forced them into becoming those people that they are now, and trying to pursue a competitive career.”
CARRYING THE JUNGLE
When they first came to the LCS, Amazing and the Wolves didn't think much would change for them. “We expected to place pretty highly, because we had a really good challenger run,” he says. “So we were kind of surprised to face this adversity, getting down to 4-8 at some point and really struggling through the early part of the season. Hopes were high, and they were shattered early.”
The team had to change everything. Where before they'd been able to stay on top of Challenger without practicing too hard or preparing for specific matches, now they had to do extensive prep work for every LCS game. They started setting micro-goals for themselves in each game: steal every enemy buff after the first rotation, set a pick before level 3. They took an incremental approach to games, trying to chain small wins into a victory.
“I also have to say my comfort level on the LCS stage really rose during that time,” Amazing admits. “The LCS stage is completely different from most events. Even IEM Cologne was held in the old LCS studio. The only event that comes close was WM China.”
Once Amazing had gotten over his stage fright, and was feeling confident with his picks, he started turning things around. His KDA spiked to 23 in Week 6 as the Wolves went on a spree that brought them back into contention with teams like Gambit, ROCCAT, and SK.
Amazing has been a trump card in a lot of the Wolves' best games. Where most junglers end up playing a secondary role in fights after the initiation, and often sacrifice for their team, Amazing's style is very different.
He says, “I don't want to be the one that dives in and dies in the first second. I want to stay in and put on as much pressure as possible during those teamfights. I have a carry approach: do the most damage while surviving the longest. ...I'm just trying to focus on doing maximum damage while being safe, and still making the play.”
Amazing gives a lot of credit to his mid, cowTard, and says the two players may have the best synergy on the team. They're not just complementary on the Rift, but their temperaments make them natural allies in daily life as well.
“We clicked early. We have a similar approach. We are rather the quiet ones sometimes, standing by the side and not necessarily being a part of the action. But in-game we want to be a part of the action,” he says.
If cowTard is Amazing's favorite partner, then Gambit's Diamondprox is his arch-nemesis. Diamond's style is like Gambit in a nutshell: versatile, skilled, and completely unpredictable.
“I love playing against him because he's always putting up new challenges, there's always a surprise in some way,” Amazing explains. “But I also hate him because of that, because you never know what you have to expect. You never know what Gambit is bringing out. You never know the picks, the play style. ...Gambit changes the play style a lot from game to game. Sometimes Diamond sits back and farms until level 6, and then other times he just comes out and trashes your entire time. And you have to somehow respond to that.”
While Copenhagen Wolves are neck-and-neck with the other .500 teams in EU LCS, their sights are on the top spot. They have to be. For a competitive personality like Amazing, there is no other way.
“You can never have the approach that you want to be in the middle of the pack. That you're comfortable with it,” Amazing says. “Because if you have this comfort, you get lazy while being in the middle. Because that just puts you in the position that you'll get beaten by teams that are beneath you. We're still aiming for a top three or top two finish, because you always have to have that mindset. That you want to win each game and be the best team in LCS.”